Chapter 43
First Impressions

Cassie arrived at the Burrow the same way she arrived at Hogwarts - laying sprawled on the floor. As she tried to pick herself up and back onto the trunk, she noticed a red-haired man with a pony-tail and earring looking at her with undisguised curiosity. She was grateful she had worn jeans this morning rather than her uniform skirt. Then in quick succession, several thoughts crossed her mind, each worse than the other. She was wearing jeans and a jumper, the same jeans and jumper she had worn yesterday and spent all day with George in. He would certainly recognize the jumper and wonder why she was wearing it again. Then she realized that she hadn't put on any makeup and her face probably looked horrible. The last thought that made her truly want to crawl into her trunk and never show her face again was the remembrance of what her hair looked like. She hadn't meant the ponytail to be permanent and she knew her hair was coming out, surely giving her a rather bedraggled look. Behind her, Arthur must have stood up (gracefully) off the trunk because he reached down and offered a hand to her. She gratefully took it and stood up next to him.

A short red-haired woman working at the kitchen sink had turned with a look of surprise which turned to one of understanding. She quickly dried her hands on an apron and then hurriedly moved forward with outstretched arms, taking Cassie by the shoulders and looking fondly at her. "Well, what a surprise! We've been preparing for you for the past week, but I didn't know you were going to come today. Well, no problem. We're so happy to have you with us. I'm Molly Weasley, Arthur's wife."

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to meet you."

"Oh, please, call me Molly. I don't mind. In fact I'd prefer it. Just last summer I finally convinced Harry and Hermione to call me Molly."

Cassie smiled, nodded and glanced around hoping to see George. The red-haired man stepped forward smiling and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Bill Weasley. You must be Cassie Robinson."

Cassie shook his hand and smiled. "Hi. We actually met once before. At Hogwarts. In June." Bill's brows drew together.

"I don't remember that. I'm sorry."

"That's all right. It was a bit crazy around at the time. You work for a bank, don't you? In London?"

"Yes. I do, in fact. I wish I could remember . . ."

"And I think Ginny mentioned that now you're engaged?"

"That's right, I am. We're getting married in a couple of months."

"Congratulations. That's very exciting."

"And a lot of work - I've been telling Fleur that I would be happy with nothing but a simple ceremony but she and Mum won't hear of it." Cassie laughed.

"Where would all the fun be in that?"

"Yeah. She says the same thing. Well, it's been lovely to meet you, Cassie, but if I don't leave soon I'll be late for my lunch date with Fleur. We'll see each other again, I'm sure. I'll see you later Mum, Dad." With that, he disapperated. Cassie again looked around the small kitchen, unsure of what to do now. She was a little disappointed George had not yet come in to greet her. Maybe he wasn't even here right now. So she focused on the two people in the room at the moment. Arthur, beaming broadly, kissed his wife on the cheek and Molly started fussing over her when Cassie noticed one of the twins enter the kitchen.

Arthur smiled. "Ah. George. I brought a surprise guest. Well, just a little earlier than we had expected, actually."

The tall redhead smiled broadly and grabbed her into a big hug. Cassie grinned as he stepped away from her and she wanted to laugh. She wondered if they played this trick often.

"Oh, Cassie, it's so nice to see you again. And so soon."

"It's nice to see you too, Fred. But why are you wearing one of George's shirts?" Fred looked down at the monogrammed G above the pocket of his shirt.

Fred groaned. "I do not know how you do that. Not even our own mother can tell us apart like that. And it's not his shirt. It's just a charm. I was hoping to fool you, if you must know." He waved his wand at himself and the G turned back into the F it had undoubtedly been a few seconds before. Arthur and Mrs. Weasley were staring at the two of them in amazement but before Cassie could explain, she heard heavy footsteps running down the stairs above her head and then the real George stepped off the stairs and stood still for a moment.

"Cassie! I thought I heard your voice, but I thought I was imagining things." He took two steps across the small kitchen and then wrapped her in his warm arms. He kissed her quickly, at the last minute aiming for her forehead rather than her lips and then let her go. He looked at her with a mixture of pleasure, surprise and concern. "Why are you here?"

Cassie hesitated and Arthur spoke up. "We can discuss that later. Boys, why don't you take Cassie's trunk up to Ginny's bedroom?" George and Fred grabbed the trunk and began carrying it up the stairs with only a few complaints about what sort of bricks she was storing in it.

Molly took Cassie by the arm and guided her up behind them. "You can sleep in Ginny's bed. The sheets are clean and it's a comfortable room. As I said, we've been looking forward to your arrival. We just weren't planning on you until next week with the others. But Arthur said he'll explain later, so never mind about that now." They climbed the stairs to a small room and opened the door. Cassie looked around shyly, feeling a little embarrassed to be in Ginny's room without her permission or even knowledge for that matter. The boys set the trunk into a vacant corner while Mrs. Weasley bustled around. "It's a little dusty in here. I'm sorry. I'll take care of that immediately." Cassie watched with amazement as Mrs. Weasley pulled a feather duster literally out of thin air and started in on the dresser.

"Mum! I don't think Cassie wants to watch you dust. She knows the room's been empty for months. She doesn't care about the dust, do you?" George looked at her imploringly from across the room through the rapidly-thickening cloud.

"Not at all, really. Not at all." Mrs. Weasley looked flustered and nervous and Cassie wondered why. Was it her? "I'm just grateful you're willing to have me."

"Willing? Why, of course we're willing. We would do anything for Dumbledore, as he well knows. And if you can help identify . . . some people . . . then it's the least we can do. Why don't you freshen up and then come down for lunch? I wasn't expecting company so it's nothing fancy, but there should be plenty."

"Thank you, er, Molly. I'll do that." Cassie was now positive that Mrs. Weasley was flustered because of her, but she couldn't imagine why. Fred and Mrs. Weasley stepped out into the corridor but George stood there for a long minute looking at her and she had the overwhelming desire to apologize for looking so scruffy, but she decided against it. She just smiled nervously at him, unsure what to do. Should she kiss him? Should she hold out her hand? Should she hug him again? "Thanks for bringing up the trunk." All right. So she sounded like an idiot now.

"No problem. Oh, Mum forgot to mention. The loo is on this floor at the end of the hall, if you need to use it or anything." Cassie nodded, grateful for the information although she really wished that anyone except George could have thought to mention it.

"George, come on out of there. Let Cassie have some peace for a minute." He shot her an apologetic glance and then followed his mother out into the hall. Cassie went over to the door and looked out in time to see him starting down the steps but turning around at the last minute to see her. She waved briefly and then shut the door, leaning against it for a minute. The Burrow. In her wildest dreams of where she was going to be spending her time after Hogwarts, living in the same house with George had never crossed her mind. She wrapped her arms around her middle. Her stomach was doing flip-flops now and she wanted to dance and scream and sing all at the same time. He was here. She was here. And they didn't only have an hour together or six hours or a day. They had days and days. She stood up and put her hand up to her hair. Of course, she had made a fantastic first impression on his mother, who was probably right now telling him that he could do a lot better for himself. And maybe he was starting to wonder, too. Well, she had some time now. She could do something to make herself look a little more presentable. She smiled as she stepped up to the mirror and saw a small picture of Harry stuck into the corner.

Suddenly, with the force of a hammer dropped on her toe, she realized something and she felt so faint that she had to go sit down on the bed. She had been terribly rude to Ginny and Harry and Hermione and Ron. When she was told that she was leaving Hogwarts and going to the Burrow, she had barely taken the time to say goodbye to them. I mean, yes, it was true that Dumbledore said she needed to leave immediately, but she hadn't even tried to hug them goodbye or anything. They had done so much for her through the week she had been there and had been such good friends to her. And she had been so excited about going to the Burrow and getting away from Malfoy and that whole embarrassing situation, she had been insufferably rude. She stood up and started pacing. The thought of the four of them sitting around in the common room that afternoon thinking about how rude she had been made her almost sick. She wanted to apologize right then and wished more than anything in the world that she could somehow telephone them and let them know how sorry she was. She remembered the "fire-call" George had made yesterday and wondered if it was possible for her to call Hogwarts.

With renewed energy, she pulled the elastic out of her hair and brushed through it quickly, her fingers automatically plaiting it simply so that it was off her neck. She looked through her trunk for her toiletry bag which the house-elf had obviously put at the bottom when he packed her things. She grabbed her makeup and applied some simple lipstick and mascara, realizing that her color was already high enough that she could forego the blush. She grabbed her deodorant and reached under her jumper. It was really warm in the house compared to the cold stone dorm room and so she decided to change shirts completely. She peeled the jumper off and stepped over to the trunk to dig out a blouse. Even one of her uniform blouses would look okay with the jeans, although everyone would know what it was.

As she stood there looking into her trunk she glanced up at the walls and her eyes got round in shock. She grabbed a blouse quickly and threw it on, fumbling with the buttons in her haste to get them closed. There were pictures of Harry all over the walls. She had noticed them, of course, (they were not hard to miss) but she had forgotten that like all wizard portraits, these would move. The one closest to her trunk was smiling broadly at her from the back of a broomstick and waving. Well, before tonight, these would have to come down. There was no way she was going to be dressing and undressing in front of a million pictures of Harry Potter. No way. It took her a minute to stop shaking from the shock and embarrassment. When she finally felt a little better, she checked herself once more in the mirror and took a deep breath. Time to go downstairs.

She made a quick stop in the small bathroom so she wouldn't have to worry during lunch, and then descended the stairs slowly, unsure of how far up she was. It seemed like they had climbed several flights on the way up. The stairway was crooked and the steps were uneven. She watched her feet carefully, deciding that she definitely did not want to trip and slide down a flight or two to land in another ungraceful heap at the bottom of the stairs. She was halfway down the third flight of stairs when George peeked into the stairwell, grinning broadly at her. "Hi." He climbed a few stairs and met her on the next landing, catching her hand and pulling her close to him.

"Hi." She put her hand up to her hair to make sure it looked all right. "I wish I'd have known when I went down to breakfast this morning that I'd be seeing you later. I would have gone to a little more effort. I'm sorry about . . ."

"Don't apologize. I think you looked great. Of course, I would think that no matter what." She flushed a little.

"Your mum probably wonders about me, though. I think she's nervous about my being here or something." She leaned against him a little, wondering again what cologne he wore, because whatever it was, she loved it.

"Yeah. Dad's told her a bit about your house and parents, and I think she's a little self-conscious. She can be that way sometimes. She'll get over it. Er, you don't mind, do you, that the house is a little, er small?" Cassie looked up at him in surprise and noticed that he was a little pink.

"No. I don't care about how big or small it is. I just care that I'm here. With people. And not somewhere like the Shrieking Shack or something." A thought came to her and her eyes narrowed. "You knew I would be coming here, didn't you? Yesterday, when you said you didn't know?"

"We never said we didn't know, we said no one had told us anything, which is true. We had eavesdropped about it."

"Why didn't you tell me? You knew how nervous I was."

"I was almost afraid to say it out loud. I thought it might jinx it or something. Plus, plans always change if something happens and I didn't want you to be too disappointed." She thought about that for a minute and it made sense.

"Okay. I may forgive you eventually." But her smile belied her harsh words. "George? Can I fire-call Hogwarts from your house?"

"What?" The change of subject had obviously caught him off guard but he caught on quickly. "You couldn't fire-call anyone, Cassie. Same problem as flooing."

"You know what I mean. You could do the actual sticking-your-head-in-the-fire thing for me."

"Um. No. Technically we could, but I don't think it would be a good idea. Why do you want to anyway?" She explained about how quick her departure had been from the school and after a brief chuckle at her obvious distress, he tried to reassure her. "I'm sure they are not sitting around the common room calling you names for not saying a proper goodbye. They know the situation. If anything, they probably are just missing you. It looked to me like you were all pretty good friends."

"Yeah. But they'll probably be happy they don't have to worry about me anymore, now." She felt the prickle of unshed tears behind her eyes. She really felt terrible about not telling them how much she had appreciated everything they had done for her. She could tell them next week, it was true, but it wasn't the same.

"After lunch, you can write them notes and we'll send them this afternoon, okay? They'll have them by tomorrow morning. Will that make you feel better?" She turned and smiled up at him.

"Oh, yes. Thank you so much. That would be great!" Molly looked up the stairs at the two of them.

"There you are, George. And Cassie. What are you two talking about so seriously?"

"Nothing important, Mum. Just about Ginny."

"Well, okay. Are you ready for some lunch, dear? Come on down." Cassie actually wasn't hungry as she had eaten breakfast not more than two hours ago, but she didn't want to say that to Mrs. Weasley as she was afraid it would sound rude. George started down the steps and she followed. All five of them sat down at a square butcher-block style table and Cassie watched with interest as Molly waved her wand at the plates and bowls of food which then floated gracefully over to the table. She had prepared what looked like a very good soup, thick, and full of nice vegetables and noodles. There were also sandwiches made with thick white bread. Cassie took a sandwich and happily ladled herself a bowl of soup. The sandwich was chicken and it was quite good. The soup was also very good, and even though she hadn't been hungry she ate everything. No one said much during lunch. The boys ate hungrily and George had two entire sandwiches as well as a large bowl of soup. It was only after lunch was over that they all sat back and the time for conversation had started.

"Dad, I am dying of curiosity to know why Cassie had to come early. Does it have anything to do with last night?" Cassie suddenly remembered the Sunday Prophet article about the Ministry party the night before.

"I'd forgotten all about that! What happened exactly? Was it Voldemort's people?" Everyone's eyes opened a little wider at her casual use of Voldemort's name and Cassie remembered that she should try to call him You-Know-Who or something for other people's sake. She looked down at the table embarrassed but nobody said anything to her about it.

"We're not exactly sure what happened. We know Fudge was attacked by people who looked like Order members, undoubtedly polyjuiced." George looked at Cassie with a question in his eyes when his father said that but she nodded.

"Undoubtedly. I heard that Remus was seen and anyone who knows about werewolves knows that he would not have been there last night."

"Yeah. That was a big mistake, one they will regret, I'm sure. I personally don't think it was any of, uh, the Death Eaters because I cannot figure out what motivation they would have for attacking Fudge. He's probably their biggest help in the Ministry, although he doesn't admit it. And even if they had succeeded in killing Fudge, we don't see what good that would have done. So we're still waiting for some official investigation into that. It will probably take a few days. Hopefully not much longer. But to answer your question, George, Cassie being here today is just a coincidence that has nothing to do with last night."

"So . . . .?"

"Cassie, do you want to tell them? Or would you prefer for me to do it?"

Cassie sat there for a minute thinking about what exactly had to be told. She was not even sure Arthur knew about the night before and about the horrible things Malfoy had said about her. All he may know about is the letter. "I'll tell them." She stared down at the surface of the table and began to fold her napkin into little squares and then unfold it, over and over again. She knew she was revealing her nervousness but she didn't care. "Remember, George, how I told you and Fred yesterday about Draco Malfoy and how he was giving me a bad time?" This actually was just supposed to be a lead question, sort of a non-threatening way to get the conversation started on the right track. If Cassie had known the chaos that would have resulted from her question, she could have phrased it differently. Quite literally, all hell broke loose.

"Yesterday! You talked about something yesterday!" Mrs. Weasley was screeching and Arthur stood up to lean threateningly over the twins.

"I hope Cassie didn't just say what I think she said. There is no way that either of you should have been anywhere near the school yesterday! Were you there? Were. You. There?"

George stood up next to his father. "Yes. We went to Hogsmeade."

"We didn't know it was a Hogsmeade day, Dad. Honest." Fred said and Arthur glared at him.

"Don't lie to me, Fred."

George shook his head at his twin. "It was my idea, Dad. We did go and we spent the day with all of them. That's not illegal as far as I know. Enlighten me if it is."

"It isn't illegal, but you know as well as I do that students are not supposed to get visitors on Hogsmeade days unless it is their parents with prior permission! I can't believe this. Just when I think you've finally matured past the age of 10, you go and prove me wrong! You could have gotten all of them in trouble. But the main reason I'm upset with you is that Cassie was supposed to be lying low, blending in with the crowd, not getting into trouble!"

"You're right. I'm sorry." George sat down and folded his arms over his chest. Arthur sat down, too. "I wasn't really thinking about her. My mistake. It won't happen again." Both his parents stared at him and even Fred's eyebrows were raised. Apparently, his ready agreement took the force out of the argument because everyone sat there for a few minutes in silent surprise. Finally, Mrs. Weasley smiled pleasantly at Cassie.

"Go on, dear. Please continue."

Cassie hesitated. She was almost afraid to say anything now. But everyone was looking at her so she continued. She stumbled over her words. "I'm sorry to have caused problems."

"Oh, dear, you don't need to worry. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know." Mrs. Weasley turned and glared at the twins. "They, on the other hand, did know. But, that's over now."

"Well, last night, Malfoy insulted me and made some really dirty insinuations in front of the whole school. So I slapped his face."

"Why didn't you hex him, like we talked about?"

"It sounds stupid, but I just reacted without thinking, really. I had the wand out and everything, but then . . . I just slapped him."

Fred groaned. "All that work for nothing."

"Well, not exactly nothing. Ginny and I got him good this morning . . . but that's a different story. Anyway, I guess he was mad enough last night that first thing this morning he fired off a letter to dear old dad." Arthur was nodding.

"Dumbledore has been watching his owls, particularly, for fear that he would somehow expose Cassie's hiding place. And today, the amount of details given concerning when she arrived, what she looked like, and things . . ."

"Wait. I don't understand," George said, a very puzzled look on his face. "Why did he think Lucius would be able to help him?"

Cassie blushed bright red now. "He . . .." She took a deep breath and spit it all out as quickly as possible. "He wanted information on my family so he could blackmail me and force me to do, er, things with him."

"It would certainly have exposed her as an imposter if not worse . . ." Arthur supplied. "If nothing else, his father would have realized immediately that she wasn't really Ginny's and Ron's cousin. That would have led to other awkward questions."

George stood up and started pacing the length of the kitchen, clenching and unclenching his fists while Fred smirked into his hand. Every once in a while, Cassie would catch a word or two. "Kill," "Pulp" and "Ferret" were the only ones she recognized. She looked hopelessly at Fred who just shrugged.

"Ignore him. He's a little territorial right now." This was said in a very low voice so that only Cassie heard him. Then he spoke up. "Speaking of cousins, Mum, is there anything we can do to get Cassie's hair back to its normal color?"

"What do you mean?"

"Her hair isn't usually red. It's blonde. But she was pretending to be a Weasley, so to speak, and Dumbledore thought the blonde hair was too conspicuous anyway."

"I suppose we could. It might be easier just to wait until it grows out, though."

"That could be weeks."

"Well, I need to know the potion used on her hair. We could owl Severus . . . or we'll see him in a few days anyway."

"Actually, Molly, I don't think Professor Snape made the potion. He didn't know about me at all." Cassie wasn't sure who had made the dye or potion or whatever, but she was positive that Professor Snape had not made it for her or that he knew what it was to be used for.

"That's odd. Albus even hid your identity from Severus?" Cassie nodded.

"Although he said if he figured it out that would be all right."

"Okay. We'll just ask Albus then. I can't use an owl, though. Too dangerous. We'll just have to wait until we see him on other business. It might be a day or so."

"That's fine, Molly. I'm used to it now." George muttered something under his breath again, but Cassie didn't catch was it was. Fred grinned, though. "I wanted to thank you, too, for this wonderful meal. It was great."

"Thank you, my dear. I must say that it's going to be lovely having some female companionship in the house again. I do miss Ginny so when she's away and it's just me and the boys." Cassie laughed as she pushed her seat back and picked up her plate and bowl. Arthur and the boys wandered out of the kitchen and Cassie smiled to herself. Men. If they could get out of working in the kitchen they would. That was true whether Muggle or wizard, apparently.

"Yes. I can imagine you miss her a lot. Do you like Bill's fiancee? Does she come here very often?"

"Fleur is a lovely girl, lovely. And I know that Bill really truly loves her. They'll be good together." Cassie finished bringing the plates and cups to the sink as Molly stacked them. There were no leftovers to worry about so Cassie just watched as Molly ran hot soapy water into the sink and then set the plates to washing themselves. Cassie wished her mother could see this. It would be very handy for the dishes to wash themselves. "But, she isn't one to just sit and visit, at least not with me. She's part Veela, you see." Cassie had no idea what the meant, so she just nodded.

"Oh."

"Anyway, I am thrilled to have you for this extra week. I'm sure you must miss your family, though. But we'll try to make you feel at home here for however long you must stay. I am sure it won't be much longer before this nasty business is settled."

"Thank you, Molly. I already love it here. You have a wonderful home and family." The plates had finished washing and were now drying themselves and putting themselves away in the cupboard. Cassie was going to volunteer to wipe the table but a cloth soaped itself in the sink and did it by itself. Amazing.

"Thank you, my dear. It's cozy, but we love it." Arthur came back into the kitchen just as the work was finished and hugged his wife. Cassie wondered if he had been spying on them to make sure he wasn't asked to actually wipe a counter or something.

"I need to be going to the Robinson's this afternoon. They deserve to know what has happened and where there daughter is. Cassie, do you need anything from your house? I could bring it back easily enough. And if you'd like to write a quick note to your parents, I can deliver it personally."

"I'd love to write a note. And I could probably use some more clothes. Without my uniforms, I only have a couple of outfits. Tell Mum that my regular winter clothes are fine, probably about five outfits or so. Is that okay?"

"I'll tell her. I just don't guarantee the results." Cassie laughed in response.

"Thanks so much. I'll just be a minute." Cassie started up the steps but partway up the second flight she realized that she actually had no idea where Ginny's room was. She stopped on the landing she thought was the right one and opened the door a little. No. This wasn't Ginny's room. She went up one more flight of stairs and this time, when she opened the door, it was familiar. She grabbed her quill and parchment out of her trunk and hurriedly scratched out a note reassuring her mother that she was fine and happy. She also mentioned that she had gotten them really good Christmas presents, which wasn't quite true yet, because her mum was the only one she had really gotten a present for, but she didn't want to admit that in the note. She would think of something before Christmas for her father and brothers. When she was done, she hurriedly rolled up the parchment and ran down the steps to the kitchen. She averted her eyes from the sight of Arthur and Molly kissing because she didn't want to embarrass them, but when they noticed her there, they both smiled.

"Is that ready?" Arthur took the note from her. "I'm sure they'll have something to say back to you, too. I'll be back soon."

Molly tried to look stern. "No you won't. You always say that. Then you get to that Muggle house and you talk for hours. Please do try to be back for dinner." But then she smiled and ruined the whole effect.

"I'll do my best, but Rebecca is a very good cook. I'll have to see what she's offering." Molly tried to look offended again and smacked him with the towel she held in her hand, but he disapperated before it connected.